


Keep Your Eyes On Me

by AsagiStilinski



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Stiles Stilinski, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Skating, Alternate Universe - Sports, Alternate Universe- Werewolves are still a thing, Coach Stiles Stilinski, Competition, Figure Skater Derek Hale, Figure Skater Stiles Stilinski, M/M, Thunderstorms, Warning: Kate Argent, Werewolf Bites, Werewolf Stiles Stilinski, figure skating, sbwildcard2, sterekbingo, sterekbingo2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-30
Updated: 2018-05-30
Packaged: 2019-05-16 08:46:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14808099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski
Summary: As far as Derek knows, his biggest concern is getting to the Grand Prix finals, winning if at all possible, and with the help of his new coach Stiles, that dream may actually be within reach for the first time since his family died, but there's much more going on than he realizes, beneath the surface of competitions and choreography, there's a darker world lurking, one that awakens during the full moon...





	Keep Your Eyes On Me

**Author's Note:**

> Originally I actually wrote this for "thunderstorm"'s theme but it ended up just... not fitting that well, so I moved it to Wild Card, it's the first one I wrote for this year's Bingo and it took ages, it isn't quite the Yuri On Ice AU I planned but it works anyway
> 
> Songs mentioned:
> 
> -Howl by Florence + The Machine  
> -Under Your Spell by Amber Benson  
> -Bang Bang by will.i.am  
> -A Little Party Never Killed Nobody by Fergie, Q-Tip, and GoonRock
> 
> I apologize in advance for anything I have wrong about figure skating, I Googled as much as I could!

"Good, that's good, but what did I tell you about keeping your arms straight during that step sequence?"

Green-hazel eyes began to twitch, eyebrows pinching together as he skidded to a stop, ice flying up over the blades of his skates as he stared in annoyance at his coach

"I _am_ keeping my arms straight," he argued in annoyance

"Not straight enough, they were still a little too bent, you're supposed to look effortless but still composed,"

"You try skating this thing for six hours, your arms will bend too," he grumbled back, gliding effortlessly across the ice to where he could lean against the rink wall

"Fair enough," his coach hummed, glancing up at the clock and clicking his tongue slightly

"Just as well, it's really time to quit for the day, you're doing really well Derek, I mean that,"

The skater allowed a ghost of a smile to cross over his face as he reached out and took the water bottle his coach was handing to him, pulling the stopper up with his teeth

"I must be so tired I'm hallucinating, did you really just compliment me?"

"Oh don't act like it's so unusual, I've complimented you before! Just because I'm a tough coach doesn't mean I don't compliment you,"

Derek snorted, rolling his eyes as he finished his water and put the stopper back down in the cap

"Right, whatever you say Stiles,"

He rolled his eyes, stepping aside as the figure skater made his way off the ice and grabbed his skate guards from the bench behind him

"I'm serious! I compliment you! And speaking of compliments, PLEASE tell me you picked out your music for your short program?"

Derek paused, hands resting on his towel as he glanced over his shoulder at the other man

"What does that have to do with compliments?"

"Depends on your answer,"

He rolled his eyes, a small smirk playing on his lips as he grabbed the CD from the bag he had resting on the chair in front of him

"It's right here," he replied, handing it out to his coach

"Good, hopefully I can work with it, I really never should have let you go so long without even STARTING practice for your short program," he said with a quiet sigh, taking the CD from him and putting it in the player he had set on the edge of the rink wall

"Sorry," Derek said slowly, eyes casting down at the floor

It was his fault that Stiles hadn't been able to choreograph anything sooner, he had told Derek to choose the music for his short program so he could feel like he had a real say in his routine and Derek had taken... a wile... to find what he wanted

"It's ok, no rushing perfection right?" Stiles assured him, closing his eyes as he listened to the music play

_If you could only see the beast you've made of me_  
I held it in but now it seems you've set it running free  
Screaming in the dark, I howl when we're apart  
Drag my teeth across your chest to taste your beating heart 

He paused, nose wrinkled slightly and lips pursed

"You don't like it," Derek concluded quietly, sadly

"No no, I do, I love Florence, hell I love this song it's just... do you think this could really work as a skate song?"

"I do," he said with conviction

"But-"

"Stiles, my theme for this year is 'Freedom', for so long now I... I haven't been able to feel free when I skate, not since I lost my family, but... ever since you, ever since you started coaching me, I've started feeling that freedom again... that's why I wanted this song to be about freedom, about breaking free, you understand?"

Stiles' shoulders sagged, a slightly saddened look on his face as he slowly nodded his agreement

It made sense, and he was honestly kind of... honored that Derek's theme was sort of dedicated to him, but this song...

"Isn't there another song you could use?"

"I don't understand what's wrong with this," Derek frowned, brows pinching together, nose wrinkling, all around frustrated

And Stiles understood- really, he couldn't blame Derek for being upset... wich was exactly why he decided to back down

"You're right, sorry, just... ignore me, I just... don't know if it's the best idea to have _both_ of your routines set to Florence + The Machine music," he explained slowly

It was a lie, but it was a good enough lie- and a reasonable enough excuse- that Derek should believe him

"I think it'll be fine, if the routines are good enough then I don't think the music will really mark me down that much, can you design something?"

He could, but...

"Yeah," Stiles promised slowly, shifting slightly on his feet

"Yeah I can do it, expect to have something in a few days, I'll see you here tommorrow ok? Same time as always,"

Given the look on Derek's face, that probably wasn't what he wanted to hear

"I thought we were going to have dinner,"

Crap... was tonight Tuesday? It was Tuesday wasn't it?

Motherfu-

"Um, sorry, I really, really have to cram on this routine, tommorrow night though? I PROMISE, my treat, anywhere you want,"

For some reason Derek seemed alot more hesitant to believe him about that than he had been to believe him about the reason for his hesitation over the song, but eventually his shoulders sagged, suspicion fading away to slight melancholy disappointment, wich.... just made Stiles feel even _worse_

"I promise, tommorrow, I just... I have some stuff going on tonight,"

He felt bad for this- _horrible_ for this- but he didn't have a choice...

"I understand, I'll see you tommorrow Stiles,"

The send-off felt colder than usual, even if the sentiment it's self wasn't any different than usual, and Stiles found himself aching, his fingers twitching into fists, throat tightening, as he watched Derek walk away

He felt _horrible_

He absolutely freaking HATED this, this secret keeping, this hiding, this guilt...

He wished he could just be honest, but he knew better than anyone what the consequences of honesty could be...

Exhaling loudly through his nose, he grabbed his phone from his pocket and hurriedly video-called Scott, his foot bouncing against the floor as he waited on the other to accept his call

_"Stiles! Hey! How's it going?"_

"Ah... been better," he sighed quietly, slowly rubbing his temples as he set the phone down on the rail of the rink

"Derek gave me the music for his short program today and you're never going to believe what it is,"

_"Well that doesn't sound good.... what is it, The Macarena or something?"_

Well, Scott certainly made a valiant effort at trying to find something that was automatically worse than whatever Derek could have come up with, but to be fair, atleast The Macarena was only a matter of bad taste and not a potential risk to his safety....

"Howl, by Florence + The Machine,"

Judging by the look on Scott's face, he had clearly heard the song before- wich wasn't a surprise, Stiles had listened to it enough over the years...

_"The werewolf song?"_

"The werewolf song, and- ... how mixed is your company right now?"

_"Huh? Oh, it isn't, it's just Liam and I,"_ the other coach said with a shrug

"Good- and you KNOW how bad that is," Stiles said with a frustrated sigh

_"Yeah I know, if he finds out what you are..."_

"I know, I know," he grumbled in frustration, raking his fingers through his hair and sighing

_"Do you think he's suspicious?"_

"No... no, I think he's completely oblivious.... and I DEFINITELY over-reacted about the music... I think I hurt his feelings... should I apologize?"

_"Probably yeah,"_ Scott nodded, jerking his attention behind him at the sudden sound of a loud crash, followed by a terrible groan

_"You overrotated again didn't you Liam?"_

_"Yeah...."_

_"Well, do it again,"_

Stiles shook his head slowly, though it was with fondness and amusement, a slight grin playing on his face

_"Sorry about that,"_

"It's fine, it's fine, I mean you _are_ working after all... I just... I don't know, this thing makes me nervous, it's like.... an omen, almost,"

_"I get that, it's not exactly the most easy of coincidences,"_

"Yeah," he said with a slow, quiet sigh

"I just got so paranoid... I think it's the moon,"

_"It'd make sense if it was,"_

"And I rejected having dinner with him because of that stupid thing too you know? It just ... it freaking sucks, I have great control but I just ... I don't want to risk it,"

_"I don't blame you, staying away during the full moon is the right thing, it's for his own good,"_

"Yeah... I just have to keep telling myself that... no matter what happens, no matter the circumstances, Derek CAN'T find ou-"

He paused, startling at the sound of the door opening and quickly chucking his phone across the ice

(Why? He wasn't sure, it seemed like a good idea at the time)

"What can't I find out?"

Crap.... he had been afraid that Derek would hear that....

"W-What? Heeeeey... I uh... thought you went home?"

"I did, but I forgot my water bottle so I came back, what is it I can't find out about?"

Crap crap crap...

"Um... the ... pizza, I was .. going to get you pizza, you know, as an apology for being so sharp with you earlier, I was just tired and I really didn't mean to snap... so I was just ... going to surprise you with pizza tommorrow as an apology,"

Derek looked.... perplexed

As if he he didn't know if he should believe him or not, and honestly?

That made sense

"All of that.... because of an apology pizza...? Who were you talking to exactly?"

And this is the moment when he really regrets tossing his phone

(One of many regrets to come, he's sure)

"Just.. myself, talking to myself, you know, end-of-the-day mutterings, it's a thing I do sometimes,"

Derek didn't look like he believed Stiles in the least, and he really couldn't blame him- hell even STILES wouldn't have believed that if he had heard it and not said it

"Riiiiiiiight...." the human said slowly, bending down to pick up his water bottle

"So.... pizza for lunch tommorrow?"

"Pizza for lunch tommorrow,"

Derek only gave a curt nod at that, before finally leaving once again- for good, this time

Stiles breathed a sigh of releif, leaning back over the rink wall and glaring across the ice at his phone

Well, time to consider getting a stronger screen protector....

 

~+~

 

"You're late,"

Stiles blinked, feeling a pit of dread and anxiety drop into his stomach

"W-What?"

"You're late, you said you would be here an hour ago," Derek replied with a frustrated frown

Releif spread through him, eyes fluttering as he shucked off his jacket and stepped into the house

Good... he was only late by his own and Derek's standards, he hadn't actually missed anything yet

"Sorry, would you believe me if I said it was a long story?"

Last night had been another full moon, keeping him away from his duties as a coach once again

He hadn't realized when he decided to take on this job exactly how much being a werewolf was going to interfere with it- or exactly how much it would put him at risk, what with him being a werewolf, but it was decidedly.... well.... alot...

"It always is," Derek replied with a quiet sigh, but atleast he didn't seem all that angry

Stiles gave a sheepish look before following the skater back into the living room, settling himself anxiously in front of the TV

"So ... I didn't miss it yet right?"

"No you didn't miss it, but it's coming up,"

Stiles gave a tight nod, reaching over and instinctively taking Derek's hand as the younger man sat down next to him

Derek really wasn't kidding either, no more had they gotten settled did the announcement start

The assignments for this year's qualifying competitions for the Grand Prix

_Rostlecom Cup-_

_Skate Canada International-_

_Cup Of China-_ **Derek Hale**

There was one...

_NHK Trophy-_

_Internationaux De France-_

_Skate America-_ **Derek Hale**

And there was the second

So he was the last in each bracket, that was good, in a way, it'd give him more time to train

"Ok, this is good! This is great! Skate America is taking place at Lake Placid again so you barely have to travel, no jet lag to worry about, more time to practice, especially being the last in each leg ... and Cup Of China is going to be fun, have you ever been to Beijing before? It's nice,"

"Yeah... Beijing," Derek answered quietly

"Well, you'll get to explore an entirely new place then, that'll be fun, granted I always prefer the NHK, and it's in Osaka this year, wich- shame, I always loved Osaka ... are you ok?"

Derek looked like he had seen a ghost, wich was... odd... why would he look so terrified?

These were good line-ups, in Stiles' opinion

"I'm fine,"

Wich was clearly a lie

"Derek... be honest,"

The fact that it didn't take any more pushing than that for Derek to spill his guts about what was upsetting him really should have been a pretty big red flag on it's own

"Did you see who else was listed for these assignments?" he asked tightly

"Um.. well-"

"I'll be up against Danny Mehalani at Cup Of China, and Jackson Whittemore and Liam Dunbar at Skate America, Danny placed third in the Grand Prix last year- just beneath you and Theo Raeken, who, thankfully, I'm not up against in one of the qualifying heats... but Jackson is returning after a two year break from injuery and he always wavered between placing second and third, then there's Liam, making his senior debut under Scott McCall, Liam has been on the podium at the last two Junior competitions and now that he's under Scott I'll gurantee you that he'll be on the podium this year too, I don't have a chance in hell here Stiles!"

"Derek, that isn't true," Stiles frowned anxiously, sliding a little closer and reaching out to squeeze his hand

"You have just as good a chance as any of them, you're good Derek, you're- ... hell you're fantastic! Yes, there are other good skaters against you- GREAT skaters even, but it doesn't automatically count you out, besides, if they're as good as you're afraid you are then they'd all make it to the Grand Prix anyway and you'd have to face them there, what difference does it make if you have to go against them a few months earlier? You want to win, right? It isn't all about getting to the Grand Prix, it's about winning, right?"

"If I only had to face them once... maybe... maybe I could still get a medal, but twice? I may not even get to the Grand Prix at all,"

"Derek, I have faith in you," he said slowly, squeezing his hand a little bit tighter, a little bit harder

"I KNOW that you can get through this, you just have to believe in yourself,"

Considering the heavy eyeroll that the younger skater gave at that, Stiles figured that he probably didn't believe him

He wasn't getting through to him...

Talking wasn't working, encouragement wasn't working, he needed something else... it was just a matter of what

"Come on," Stiles said suddenly, nudging the other skater to get up as well

"What-"

"We're going out for a wile,"

Derek frowned and huffed, nose wrinkling, eyebrows pinching, lips pursing all in frustration

"Where-"

"Just trust me ok?"

If there was one thing Derek seemed to have learned since Stiles started coaching him, it was that he should trust his coach- thank god for small miracles...

"Will I need my skates?"

"Maybe, maybe not, but my motto is 'always come prepared',"

"I thought your motto was 'everytime you fall, get back up twice as fast'?"

Stiles wrinkled his nose, pouting a little as he grabbed his jacket

"A guy can have two mottos you know,"

Even if one of them _was_ kind of made up on the fly... but to be fair, most of this coaching thing had been made up on the fly so it pretty much fit

 

~+~

 

The look on Derek's face when they arrived at the skating rink was something akin to resigned disappointment, as if he knew this would happen but had hoped it wouldn't

The thing was though, Derek knew nothing yet

"So.... what? You're gonna try to train the insecurity out of me?"

"Not at all," Stiles shrugged back easily, sliding his key into his locker and swinging it open

"I never said that this was an exercise for _you_ ,"

Derek looked sincerely surprised by that, and even moreso when his coach pulled out a pair of skates that _definitely_ weren't Derek's

"You're...-"

"Going to skate, yeah, shocker right?" he asked teasingly

Since becoming Derek's coach he hadn't really stopped skating- he went out on the ice to help Derek train all the time, but skating on is own, to his own music, for his own reasons....

It had been too long

He grabbed his boombox from where he kept it in the locker room, as well as a CD from his locker before kicking the door shut and heading out to the rink

"How did you even get a key for this place anyway? You don't own it,"

"No but I have freinds in high places,"

And that was all Stiles was willing to say, too many other details came dangerously close to revealing his secret

Derek seemed a little hesitant to accept that, but ultimately laid off, apparently not wanting to press him any further than he wanted to be pressed

"Is it a routine?" he asked instead, watching with interest as Stiles set the boombox and CD on the floor before sitting down on the bench and taking his shoes off

"Um... kinda, it's ... it's what I skate to when I need to clear my head, when I need to just... forget about competitions and skating as an ability or an art form and go back to why I originally stepped out on the ice as a kid- for the feeling, the rush, to make myself happy... I didn't always want to be a competitive skater, I only started doing that because I was good enough, when I first started out though it was all about the feeling I got, the freedom.... when I need to be free, I skate to this, something unpolished and unplanned that leaves all of the competitive junk in the dirt so I can go back to why I've always loved this sport to begin with, it's my comfort song... I really should have had you come up with one of those months ago to be honest, but maybe now you can find one for yourself,"

With the skates finally on, he set up the boombox properly and put the CD in, skipping to the right track before taking off his skate guards and stepping onto the ice

"The most important thing is that you remember why you skate Derek, that you free yourself of everything else the world has put on you and let yourself go, beyond all of the technical scores and fancy moves, THAT is the true heart of skating,"

The music started, soft and slow as Stiles glided out onto the ice, and Derek could feel his chest tighten, just slightly, watching him move

This was the man Derek had been impressed by for years

The man he had admired, who he had wanted so badly to be like, who had given up so much to help Derek, to coach him....

Watching him skate now reminded him of that passion, reminded him of why he had wanted to be in competition lately to begin with, of why he wanted so badly to win....

Not for himself, it had been ages since he wanted to win for himself, but...

For Stiles

He wanted to win for Stiles

"Really? The Tillow song from Buffy The Vampire Slayer?" he finally said, leaning over the rink wall with a teasing smirk on his face

"Yes, is there something WRONG with that?"

"No no, not at all," Derek smirked back, lips twitching a little bit higher with amusement

Stiles may not seem like it when he's on the ice or in competition, but he was a complete nerd and made no bones about it when he wasn't skating

Hell even when he _was_ skating, Derek was pretty sure he had done a routine to a Star Wars song atleast once...

He was suddenly feeling kind of relieved that Stiles had never decided to make him skate to the Superman theme song or anything....

"Come out here with me," his coach suddenly demanded, effectively catching the younger skater off guard

"What-"

"I said, _come out here with me_ , your skates are by the bench,"

Derek knew better than to argue, so he slowly slipped out of his shoes and into his skates, his heart racing a little as he slipped the guards off and walked onto the ice

As it turns out, he didn't even have to go to Stiles himself, instead, the older skater easily made his way to Derek's side, taking his student's hands in a gentle, guiding grip, as if he was teaching Derek to skate for the very first time, and pulling him along with him

_I'm under your spell  
Nothing I can do, you just took my soul with you_

The skating felt more like dancing, with the soft guiding pulls, the gentleness in wich Stiles twirled him on the ice and moved along with him like a ballet

.. No, not like a ballet

More like ballroom dancing

Soft, slow, and sweet

Derek had never done anything like it and judging by the care Stiles took with each and every move he was willing to bet that his coach was pretty new to it too

_The moon to the tide  
I can feel you inside_

He closed his eyes for a moment, just breathing, drinking in the moment

This was what it felt like to truly be free on the ice, he understood that now

The last time he had felt this way- if he had ever felt this way- was when he was too young to even realize what a competition really was

He had been competing ever since he could qualify and before that he had trained constantly to be good enough to get advanced scores right away- and it had worked

But the price he paid for that had been higher than he realized at the time, and now he found himself wishing he could take it back, just a little bit

Just a little was all he needed...

_Lost in ecstasy_  
Spread beneath my willow tree  
You make me believe 

But in fairness, what he wanted to have back from his childhood- that freedom, that simplicity- he had it now

He had it now with Stiles, and as they moved, as they skated across the ice, he felt- for the first time in more years than he could count- completely, entirely free

Just because of Stiles

_You make me complete_  
You make me complete  
You make me complete... 

 

~+~

 

"You remember our bet, right?"

The look on Scott's face was not a pleased one

"Yes," he grumbled

Stiles, personally, didn't care how annoyed Scott was

The other werewolf _definitely_ was going to cash in on the stakes if Stiles had lost, and he certainly wasn't going to let Scott out of the bet now that he had _won_

"What bet?" Derek asked innocently as he finished tieing his shoes, having just taken off his skates after leaving the Kiss And Cry

"The bet where the winner buys the loser dinner," Stiles practically purred

"But... I didn't lose..." Liam said slowly, frowning at the implication

"The competition? No, but you lost the bet, your score was below Derek's wich means that technically my guy wins," he explained with a smirk, staring directly at Scott the entire time he was speaking

Apparently Scott wasn't too big of a fan of that, considering the disapproving look on his face

"They both won in a way,"

"Yes, definitely, but mine won the competition that you and I had between us, ergo, mine won,"

Scott _definitely_ looked unhappy, but he was an honest man and he was _fair_ so he sighed and hung his head, silently agreeing that he had lost fair and square

Derek had come in first place at Skate America, you really couldn't beat that, even if Liam had come in third- wich was still incredible for his senior debut

Stiles was over the moon about it, he had placed first at Cup Of China too, only beating out Danny Mehalani by two points

It had definitely done wonders for Derek's confidence.... but taken a toll on his anxiety as well

Being the one to beat was difficult, and now everyone's attention was on him, considering he hadn't placed on the podium at all in the last several Grand Prixs, and it had been years since he had gotten higher than silver at a qualifying competition

The pressure was on, but Stiles considered it worth it considering the confidence it gave Derek

"Alright, so, now that that's settled, Derek, since you're the winner, you get to choose where we eat,"

Derek looked startled, as if Stiles had just poured cold water on him or something

"Why is it my decision?"

"Because you're the winner, you can choose anywhere you want ok? ANYWHERE, Scott's paying, so it's fine,"

Scott groaned from behind him, wich honestly only further fueled Stiles' amusement

"I'm not sure, I really haven't thought about it much," Derek confessed slowly

"That's ok, take your time, we can wai-"

All of a sudden, the lightness in the room, the relaxed atmosphere, the calm and the peace... it all went completely out the window

The room was filled with tension and anxiety, and judging by the look on Derek's face, even he felt the shift in tone

A very familiar scent was nearby now... and it wasn't a pleasant one...

"Stiles...?" Derek asked softly, successfully snapping the wolf's attention back to the moment- and back to his student, more importantly

"Hm? Sorry, like I said, you decide on where you want to eat, wherever it is, we'll go, just uh... take a few minutes ok? I've gotta go talk to someone,"

Before Derek could possibly protest, Stiles had slipped around the corner, disappearing in the crowd and making his way towards the scent

His agitation was rising with each and every step, it felt like his blood was boiling, anger flittering through every vein as he finally caught sight of the creatin responsible for the odor and charged forward, grabbing the man roughly by the shoulder and spinning him around

"What the hell are you doing here Raeken?"

"What? A figure skater at a skating competition? Stop the scandal," the werewolf said with a taunting smirk

"A competition you aren't assigned to," Stiles pointed out with a snarl

"I didn't know I had to be assigned in order to be a spectator,"

"Come on Raeken, don't play stupid with me, we both know what you're here for,"

Theo looked far, far too amused to be on the bad end of this deal...

It wasn't good

"Oh? And why don't you tell me what you think it is I'm here for? Remember, this is New York, far away from your territory in California, what ulterior motive could I have for being here?"

He was right, Stiles had the fair ground in Beacon Hills, but they were in Lake Placid now and the local pack was unaware of _both_ of them

Stiles had no more rights here than Theo did

"You're just here to wave it in my face that you _can_ be, is that about right?"

"Oh not at all, I only wanted to come by and scope out the competition, wich, as a competitive figure skater, is perfectly natural for me to do, I want to offer you my congrats by the way, your student took gold, that's no easy task, well... maybe it is considering this line up but congrats either way, I look forward to beating him at the Grand Prix, though... I'm disappointed I won't be able to go up against you again,"

"Why? Because kicking your sorry butt three years in a row wasn't humiliating enough for you? Yeah I forgot about that masochistic kink of your's, and I have news for you, but Derek isn't going to lose to you Raeken, he's far too good and you're not NEARLY good enough,"

"Awfully cocky for someone who isn't even competing this year, sure, your student is basically a proxy but... it isn't quite the same, you know, like eating offbrand Cheerios instead of the real thing, sure the basic idea is there but... at the end of the day, it just isn't the same flavor,"

"Well that's a real shame for you,"

"Maybe, maybe it's a shame for you, you can rely on yourself to win but you can't rely on anyone else that way, you aren't in their body, you're not part of their mind, you can't control them no matter how much you like to think that you can, you never know what could happen, at any time they could get injured or intimidated, they could fall, they could choke, they could get distracted, someone could... give them some information that would cause them to lose all manner of concentration..."

Stiles growled loudly, his hand wrapping around Theo's shirt as he slammed him against the wall of the skating rink, anger seeping through every cell of his being, his eyes bleeding from brown to red, teeth beginning to point into fangs, as he glared at the other wolf

"Don't. You. Dare-"

"Now now, be carefull Alpha Stilinski, you wouldn't want to get your little prized pony disqualified before he even gets to the next competition, you know a coach trying to intimidate a skater is pretty bad news, how would your precious student feel about that? That you were the one who cost him his career? Ofcourse, it isn't like he knows what ELSE you cost him, you don't plan on telling him any of this... do you?"

"Shut up!!" Stiles snarled lowly, jerking Theo forward by the collar of his shirt before slamming him harder against the rink wall, causing him to laugh- or perhaps more like cackle- lowly and grin sickeningly

"Better watch out Stiles, you never know who's watching,"

Before Stiles could bite out a reply or wipe that smug smirk off of the other wolf's face, he heard Derek call out to him from behind them

"Stiles...? What's going on...?"

He swallowed tightly, feeling the acid burning heavy in his stomach as he turned around and feigned something significantly less angry

What it was exactly, he really couldn't say, but it was significantly less angry so he was just going to go with that

"Nothing, just... catching up with an old rival," he explained with a tight smile, though it was pretty obvious that Derek didn't believe him

Hell, Stiles wouldn't have believed _himself_ if he had been the one witnessing this

"It's getting late, Scott wants to leave, we have to leave now if we're going to get to the restaurant at a decent time, before the rush,"

It was clear that Derek was just trying to give him an out to get away from the situation, and although part of him wanted to reject it, wanted to keep going against Theo until he felt satisfied that the message had been received and he would stop trying to encroach on Stiles' territory- both literally and figuratively

But he knew within reason that that wouldn't happen

He needed to take the opportunity to leave wile he had it, wile he could still be the one to walk away with his head held high

"Don't worry, I was just leaving," he replied shortly, staring at Theo through every word before finally letting go and turning towards Derek

"I'm coming, right behind you," he said quickly, not even bothering to look back over his shoulder as he followed the other skater away from the rink, completely missing the way that Theo smirked as they walked away

 

~+~

 

"Do you want to tell me what was going on earlier?"

"You're going to have to be more specific,"

"You _know_ what I'm referring to Stiles, what was going on with Theo earlier? Something was wrong... you can't really think I didn't notice,"

The wolf let out a slow, long sigh, his fingers tightening slightly on the steering weel as he stared over his shoulder at the skater in the passenger's seat

"It's ... nothing to concern yourself with, ok? Theo and I just have a very ... intense.... freindly rivalry,"

"NOTHING I saw from that was freindly,"

Stiles only shrugged, pulling into the parkinglot of the hotel

They had decided to stay in Lake Placid over night so they wouldn't have to make such a long trip back home so late at night

Plus they were both tired, it was really a driving hazard when you think about it

"Stiles-"

"Look, it isn't a big deal, I just lost my temper a little bit, it's fine,"

"It is NOT fine, that loss of temper could have cost us this entire thing," Derek said firmly

Stiles tensed, turning the engine off and yanking the keys out of the ignition

"I know that Derek, I know, that's why he was baiting me-"

He shut his mouth instantly, squeezing his eyes shut and refusing to say anything more, though it seemed that it was too late, Derek had already caught on

"Boy... you two really have an issue with eachother huh?" he asked quietly as Stiles opened the car door

"Yeah, you could say that,"

Derek slid out of the car immediately after, making his way hurriedly towards his coach as Stiles locked the car

"What the hell happened between you two?" he frowned, following Stiles into the hotel

"Nothing I can tell you about right now,"

"What? Why?"

"Because, Derek, I know you, ok? You take on all of the pain of people around you, I know that if you know what happened you'll take it personally and make this more about beating Theo than winning and you CAN'T do that, if you make a competition about beating just one person then you lose sight of the gold,"

"Oh come on-"

"I'm serious Derek! When you're competing with someone head to head there's only two ways it can go, either Theo scores low and you become so zealous about beating him that you lose sight of your other competition and don't score highly enough to win- or even make the podium- or Theo scores high and you become so preoccupied with beating him that you make easy mistakes, you focus so much on landing quads that you screw up your step sequence, or even if you manage to make good technical scores, you'll be so angry that it'll affect your PCS scores, you can't skate to a love song and a lust song wile being angry, it doesn't work, and let me remind you why I'm coaching you to begin with- your technical scores are always great, if figure skating was about technique alone you'd be on the podium everytime, but you struggle too much with your PCS scores, and as someone who primarily wins on PCS, I can tell you that it's extremely important, if you go in with anger you'll ruin some of those valuable points,"

"You seem awfully sure of all this," Derek said with a sigh, stepping into the elevator next to his coach

"Yeah, well, how do you think he beat me at Rostlecom last year?" Stiles grumbled back as he pressed the button for their floor

"You said you were having a bad health day..."

"He WAS my bad health day, you think I had stomachaches all day from eating too many curly fries or something? It's from that toad-goblin stressing me out and enraging me to the point of physical agony!"

Derek squinted, nose wrinkling as he stared at the other man for a long moment

"What the HELL happened between you two?"

"Maybe if you win gold I'll tell you someday,"

Derek doubted that

He had a feeling that he could win more gold medals than he could carry and Stiles _still_ wouldn't tell him

The secrecy was something he had learned to live with since Stiles had become his coach, but it didn't mean he liked it any more than he would have otherwise, in fact, he absolutely HATED it....

But there was no sign of it ending any time soon, so he supposed he should just keep working through it, no matter how badly he wished he could get some honesty out of his coach....

 

~+~

 

The storm outside actually wasn't that bad, mostly it was just alot of rain with the occasional thunder clap, but you wouldn't know that by looking at Stiles

The older skater looked like he was in the middle of a horrible tornado, his hands over his ears, curled up in a ball and shaking harder than Derek thought was even possible

"Stiles?" he asked quietly, reaching out as slowly as he could and placing a hand on his shoulder

The older skater jumped, jerking his head up, heart racing, as he stared at his student

"Stiles... are you ok?"

"I'm fine," he answered tightly

Yeah.... like that was even somewhat believable....

"You know it's only thunder, right? There's no reason to be afraid of it,"

"I am not afraid of it," Stiles grumbled back immediately

"It's just very loud and my ears are sensitive..."

Derek didn't believe that for a moment, there was no way that someone could be this badly affected just because it was _loud_ , and when another boom of thunder shook the room and Stiles practically curled himself in half- shaking even harder and releasing a quiet wimper of fright- he knew that couldn't be the case

"Stiles, it's ok, there's nothing to be afraid of-"

"I told you, I'm not afraid, it's just my ears," he groaned back

And to Stiles' credit, Derek could definitely see that he was desperately scratching at his ears, so they were clearly bothering him, but still...

Another clap of thunder rang out, causing Stiles to yelp and suddenly go stiff as a board, as if something had happened that Derek wasn't aware of

Before he could say or do anything else, Stiles was suddenly springing out of the bed, stumbling off towards the door like a creature possessed

Dread and panic flittered through Derek

He didn't know where Stiles thought he was going or why, but he clearly wasn't in his right mind and Derek was terrified that he was about to do something incredibly stupid

"Stiles wait! Where are you going!?"

"I just... I just have to.... get out of here for a ... for a wile..."

No no no.... that was the exact wrong answer...

Derek hurried to reach out and grab Stiles' arm, tugging him away from the door, much to his obvious displeasure

"Let me go Derek!!"

"No! Not until you tell me what's going on!"

Something just wasn't right here, Stiles wouldn't look at him, his hands were curled into fists, his voice sounded raspy and panicked...

This was about alot more than just thunder

"I can't..."

"Yes, you can! I'm not just your student Stiles, I'm... I'm your freind! Hell I'm your partner! Whatever you're hiding, whatever is going on, I can take it!"

Another clap of thunder rocked through the building, the beats getting closer and closer together now- and louder with each one

He looked down and felt a ball of dread drop into his stomach at seeing a few drops of blood spilling out of Stiles' closed fist

Whatever was going on... it had to end, and it had to end NOW...

"Stiles... PLEASE... whatever it is, I can handle it!"

"But I can't!" he growled back, well... more like snarled, actually, wich took Derek aback somewhat, but it didn't stop him from persisting

"Derek, you need to let me go and you need to let me go NOW!"

"Stiles, please.... whatever you're going through, I can help!"

"No. You. CAN'T-"

Another boom of thunder, this one finally crippling Stiles to fall to the floor, and when he did, Derek finally started to see it

Stiles' eyes were closed, his fists clenched and his teeth grinding, but... his teeth....

They weren't normal teeth anymore, he could see _fangs_

Actual _**fangs**_!

As much of a shock as it was to see, Derek wasn't afraid, and now he atleast had some idea of how to help his freind

"Stiles... I know what you are," he said quietly, carefully bending down to be closer to him

The older skater's eyes popped open- as red as candied apples- as he slowly looked up at Derek, fright written all over his face

"It's ok," Derek repeated quietly, for atleast the third or fourth time in the last ten minutes, as he reached out and very gently wrapped Stiles in a hug, holding him close, letting his coach wrap his arms around him and hug back, feeling a few damp spots from tears fall onto his shoulders

He didn't know what to do from here, or how things would end up, only that for once, Stiles was the one needing him and not the other way around, and he was sure as hell going to provide for him

 

~+~

 

"So... a werewolf huh?"

"Yeah, I take it your 'I know what you are' thing was just a bluff huh?"

"Sort of," Derek winced

"But it worked didn't it?"

"Yeah," Stiles sighed quietly, leaning back a little bed and glancing out the window at the pouring rain

"It worked,"

They were quiet for a short moment, before Stiles finally spoke again

"Don't you have any questions? Anything you want to know?"

"Ofcourse, but ... I don't want to make you feel like you have to answer something you don't want to answer..."

"I'll answer anything you want Derek, you have a right to know," he said softly, offering a gentle smile to the other man

Derek nodded slowly, waiting a beat before starting off slow

"So ... how long have you been... you know..."

"A werewolf?" the older skater smirked back, a soft, teasing look on his face, watching with mild amusement as Derek gave a slow, timid nod

"My entire life, I was born this way, like the Lady Gaga song,"

"O-Oh... so... are all of the... myths... true?"

"Well usually I'd ask you to be more specific but ... at this pace, I'll just go down the line and if I miss one you can tell me, ok?"

Derek gave a sharp nod, so Stiles started listing off as many as he could think of from memory

"Ok let's see... Wolfsbane yes, silver no, turning with a bite yes, turning with a ... curse or magic or something... no, scratches are maybe, partial shifting yes, bipedal wolf monster no, full shifting into a wolf sometimes, pack dynamics yes, mating for life no- I mean, not to say that we can't be monogamous, but there's no magic oh my gawd you're my mate five-evah moment you know?"

"I know and I hope you NEVER talk like that again," Derek winced, causing Stiles to smirk, gently thumping him on the back of the head

"Enhanced abilities like speed, strength, and heightened senses yes, magic stuff like talking to animals no, larger appetites yes, eating tons of raw meat no, um... extremely slow aging and immunity to common illnesses yes, _~werewolves can only be killed with a silver bullet~_ and other such nonsense no, I mean, virtually anything can kill us if you try hard enough, umm... losing control when angry or overly emotional, yes, automatically becoming an anger machine no, hunters .... big, big, big yes.... um... us eating people or ... putting their hearts in blenders? No, big, big no, ah.. am I missing anything?"

"Just the full moon,"

"Right right.... well, that one is a little more complicated than a clear cut yes or no, the moon DOES affect us, it's ... when we're at our most uncontrollable, and our most vulnerable, we can go crazy, we can go into rages, our powers are stronger... but it doesn't automatically make us full-shift and it isn't the only night that we CAN full-shift, if someone can full-shift it's mind-over-matter and they can do it whenever they want,"

"So.... can you do it?" Derek asked after a beat, causing Stiles to smirk slightly, glancing away from the window and back towards him

"Yeah, I can, it's a rare ability but I can do it,"

"Wow, aren't you special?" Derek asked with a small smirk, causing Stiles to snort and nudge him playfully

They were in the same bed for now, not sharing it- probably- but just... just because the storm was still going on outside and everytime there was a clap of thunder Stiles winced

Apparently Derek was atleast somewhat protective of him

"Eh, I don't really know if 'special' is the word for it," he shrugged back

"Doing something that most people can't? I would define that as 'special'," Derek argued

"Well aren't you sweet?" Stiles smirked back, starting to relax a little and leaning back against the headboard

"So.... the werewolf thing... does that have anything to do with your problem with Theo?"

Stiles tensed, biting his lip slightly and shifting a little

He had hoped that this wouldn't come up, especially so soon, but...

He supposed it really was better to just rip off the bandage now instead of pulling it off hair by painfull hair over the course of time...

"Yeah, it's.... a big part of why we have issues,"

"Care to expand? I mean... I won't force you to, but it might be good to know," Derek offered with a small shrug

As tempting as it was for him to just brush it aside and take Derek's offer.... he knew he needed to be mature about this and do the right thing

"Honestly... it's a pretty long story, you sure you wanna hear it?"

"If you're ok with telling me," Derek smiled back

And him smiling like that...

It really wasn't fair, it clenched at his heart too much, made him feel too guilty, but he had to push through it, he couldn't keep this from Derek any longer

"He's the reason my dad got shot a few years ago, it nearly killed him- it DID kill him for a minute there, his heart stopped beating... and I became an Alpha,"

"It... works through bloodlines like that?" Derek asked quietly, seemingly... appalled, actually

"Yeah, can you imagine? One minute I was in Detroit skating with a freind and the next my eyes are burning red,"

"That's horrible... you must have been terrified,"

"I was, I went home immediately and... luckily they managed to restart my dad's heart, but... the damage was done,"

"You were still an Alpha," Derek guessed

"No, no not that- I mean, yes, but... that wasn't what I meant, remember earlier when I told you that hunters were real?"

"Yeah...?"

"He attracted their attention, see.... for a long time the Argents- the hunting clan in Beacon Hills- has known about our pack, but since my dad is the sheriff it was hard for them to get a jump on us and get away with it, most hunters can literally get away with murder because most cops don't know about the supernatural and can't make any reasonable arrests, that isn't the case with us, if they killed one of our's my dad would nail them, but... Theo sold him out to save his own skin, he lured my dad into a trap and let the hunters get him,"

"Why? Why ... would he do that?"

"He wanted Alpha status, he made a deal with them, he'd lure my dad into a trap if they let him give the finishing blow so he would absorb the Alpha powers he had, but hunters can't be trusted and they shot my dad in the heart, Theo knew their 'deal' wasn't going to happen so he ran off before they could get him again, but... by then they knew our pack with vulnerable, when I came home to see my dad they found out about it, they knew if they took MY head too, there'd be no Alpha for the pack to be defended by, so they set out to kill me, but.... there was one major problem,"

"What was it?" Derek asked quietly, apparently enamored by the story

"The Argent that had taken on the task of killing me- Kate- she's ... about ten years older than I am, my dad ran her off when I was a little kid because she was.... she's a freaking psycho, she kept making bold, stupid moves even for a hunter, so my dad sent her away, she didn't know what I looked like or where I was staying, all she knew was that I was a champion ice skater and would spend all of my spare time at the rink, the problem was... I wasn't the only ice skater in Beacon Hills back then,"

"Stiles.... what are you saying?" Derek asked slowly

"I'm saying.... that when Kate Argent saw lights on at the skating rink the night after I got back, it wasn't me that she saw, and it wasn't Scott, it was-"

"Me," Derek breathed quietly

"Yeah... it was you, she followed you home, assumed you were me, assumed 'I' was staying with freinds, and set the house on fire right after she watched you leave the next night, so 'I' would have no place to go, she was going to kill you when you came back from skating and saw the fire, but luckily my pack found out first, **I** found out first, and we put her in prison, my dad's deputy is a hellhound, he processed her,"

"So... my family is dead because of-"

"Me," Stiles finished quickly, not wanting to hear it come from Derek's mouth

"They're dead because of me,"

Derek pursed his lips, staring up at the older skater with a pained, but slightly frustrated look on his face

"No, they're dead because of the Argents, and because of Theo,"

Stiles was surprised, to say the least, at Derek's take on it, but he wasn't entirely convinced

"Derek it was me they were after-"

"And that isn't your fault, NONE of it is, you... you weren't even in the STATE when it started! And when you came back you were dealing with a father who had just DIED- even if only for a few minutes- and this... this Alpha thing... I may not know much about how it works but I'm pretty sure you had alot of responsibilities thrust on you all of a sudden, Stiles.... it ISN'T your fault, ok? I swear it... it's the Argents' fault, and Theo's,"

"Well, I'm not arguing with you on the last part atleast," Stiles said with a quiet sigh, hearing another rumble of thunder in the distance and shuddering with displeasure, his ears tingling as the sound peirced through him

Derek wrapped an arm around him, squeezing him gently- much to his pleased surprise- and rested his head on Stiles' shoulder

"Stiles..... be honest with me, is this... is this why you took a year off to coach me? Out of guilt?"

The werewolf looked down, chewing his lip and shifting a little again

"No, not.... not completely, you're a great skater Derek, I really mean that, and I knew that I could help you, I WANTED to help you, but.. I was following your career out of guilt and concern, it isn't why I wanted to coach you but... it was part of things in the beginning yeah,"

Derek nodded slowly, taking that into consideration for a moment before leaning back a little further, now laying down and still keeping an arm around the wolf

"This is alot to take in,"

"I know,"

"I think we should sleep, let our minds rest, don't you?"

Stiles glanced up at the younger skater with slight surprise, but nodded his agreement, deciding that if Derek wasn't going to comment on their bed sharing, then he probably shouldn't either

"Ok," he agreed softly, letting his eyes fall closed and taking a slow, deep breath

"Ok,"

 

~+~

 

"Stiles... Stiles wake up... Stiles wake up!!'

Stiles grumbled quietly, shifting in his sleep and tugging his pillow over his head

"Stiles wake up, it's important!!!"

That finally seemed to catch his attention, forcing him to toss the pillow away from his face and sit up

"Ok, ok, I'm up, what's the emergency?"

"Jackson Whittemore is dead,"

That shocked the sleep out of his brain, a freezing chill shuddering down his spine, face pale and heart pounding

"W-Wait... what?"

"He was found dead in his hotel room this morning, I just got the call," Derek said quietly, looking away

"From who!? Who.... who know-"

"It's making the circuit, I just heard from Liam Dunbar's coach,"

"Scott? Why didn't he call me directly!?"

"He did, but you were sleeping so soundly... I didn't want to wake you so I answered for you,"

Stiles nodded slowly, biting his lip

"Did he say what happened?"

"Kind of... he said it's what you were afraid of,"

Stiles felt ill, a ball of anxiety and upset starting to form in the pit of his stomach

"Stiles... what is it? What are you afraid of?" Derek asked gently, though it was clear that he was feeling just as nervous as Stiles was- well... almost as nervous atleast....

"Hunters... specifically the Argents, they must have found out that a bunch of werewolves were here for Skate America and decided the reward was worth the risk,"

"Wait a minute, so Jackson was a werewolf too?" Derek asked in disbeleif, watching as Stiles jumped out of bed

"Yep,"

"Was he one of your's?"

"Nope,"

"You said... a 'bunch' so ... are there others here?" the human asked hesitantly

"Yeah, Scott and Liam are mine, they're the only other wolves here but that doesn't mean they're the only other supernaturals," he explained, grabbing his duffle bag and immediately starting to toss in anything he could grab that was their's

" _Other_ supernaturals? How many kinds are there?"

"About as many different kinds of people I suppose,"

Derek mouthed a silent "Wow" to himself, his attention suddenly switching from the thought of supernatural creatures to concentrating on what was going on in front of him- besides, they could always talk about the former later

"I take it we're going home?"

"Ish, you're going back home to New York, I'm going back home to Beacon Hills,"

Quickly, the neutral look on Derek's face fell down to a deep frown, a look of concern and worry pulling at his face

"Wait, why are you going to California?"

"Because they'll be looking for me in New York, they probably know where I am now, not to mention that they'll definitely go back to Beacon Hills and go after my pack again, now that they know I'm not there to protect them, I NEED to be there to protect them,"

"Then I'll go with you," he offered easily

Stiles paused, hands clenched around his bag

"Derek... you can't,"

"Why the hell not!?"

"Because that would involve you in this! If I take you with me then you'll get caught up in all of this crap and as a human they'll target you first, no... you're going to stay in NYC and practice, I'll be back as soon as I can,"

"Bite me," Derek snarled with a growl

"Have you maybe considered that the opposite would happen? That they'd know you left me- the weak, fragile human you care about- behind and would come after me to use me as a way of getting to you? Atleast if I'm with you I have protection, if you leave me in New York alone it'll just be me against the hunters,"

Stiles didn't like that answer, he didn't like that answer at all

"Derek.... there's no going back from this, right now you're just an innocent bystander, but if you come with me, if they get even a hint that you're a werewolf sympathizer-"

" _Sympathizer_?" Derek snorted

" _Please_ , I'm a werewolf _supporter_ ,"

Stiles sighed softly, though the look on his face was soft and fond

"I'm not going to convince you otherwise, am I?"

"No chance in hell,"

He heaved a quiet sigh, still looking more fond than annoyed, and tossed Derek's t-shirt at him

"Then get packing, we have alot of ground to cover,"

 

~+~

 

"You aren't adding another quad to your program Derek," Stiles insisted with a deep frown

"Theo Raeken has four quads," the skater insisted with an equally annoyed frown, skating towards the wall and draping himself over the top of it

"If Theo Raeken jumped off a cliff would you jump after him?" Stiles asked casually, bending down to turn off the boombox

"It isn't about that, you can't expect me to win with three quads when he has four, and I heard that Danny Mehalani has upped his to four too, I just BARELY beat him at Cup Of China, if he's advanced his program I'll lose for sure,"

"Derek, you can't land four quads-"

"I could-"

"-and it's better to land three clean quads than to ATTEMPT four and screw them up,"

"It doesn't mean I'll fail on the others even if I DO fail on the fourth," Derek argued

"Derek, you're not upping your program, the end,"

"What if I land all four in practice?"

Stiles was quiet for a few moments, considering that

"Alright, if you land four in practice three times, I'll let you add a fourth to your program," he relented

He didn't doubt Derek could do it, he just needed to give him a little more motivation, a little more fire, that was all

"You swear?"

"I swear," he promised with a nod

"Now can we go back to that triple axle? You almost over-rotated,"

"Sir yes Sir," Derek snorted back, rolling his eyes as he headed back towards the center of the ice

"Oooh I like it when you call me that, say it again," Stiles purred back, gasping with fake shock when Derek stuck his middle finger up at him

"Derek Simon Hale, how dare you make an obscene gesture to your coach like that!?"

Derek only barked a sharp laugh, causing Stiles to roll his eyes as the sound of is phone ringing buzzed through the room

"Hey, you work on those axles ok? I've gotta answer this," he called, taking his phone from his pocket and pressing on the answer button

"Hey Scotty what's up?"

_"Your dad got in touch with the prison,"_

That's what Stiles had been hoping for, but.... now that he knew their question had an answer, he couldn't help being nervous about what that answer would be...

"Yeah... and?"

_"Kate is still in prison, the guard checked this morning, meaning-"_

"Meaning that whoever killed Jackson may have been an Argent but it wasn't Kate,"

_"Exactly,"_

"Great, that narrows it down," Stiles sighed

Sure he was relieved that Kate was still in prison and not out terrorizing people again, and he knew Derek in particular would be glad to hear it, but now the frustrating and terrifying fact was that it could be virtually any other hunter, even outside of Argents

Atleast with Kate they would have known who they were against...

_"What do you want to do? We can't just.... wait... can we?"_

"No, no.... waiting is DEFINITELY not an option... especially considering how close we are to the Grand Prix, the last thing we need is to have this monster still prowling around by then, and considering how many skaters there are of the supernatural persuasion? It'll be like a slaughter house if the Argents decide to make this a regular thing,"

_"Then...?"_

"Just... hang on a minute, let me think,"

He had reason to believe that it was an Argent doing this

After all, this had happened once before, werewolf ice skaters being targeted by their skates....

_"Stiles...?"_

"Yeah, I'm here Scott, listen, I have an idea, meet me at my house for dinner at eight ok? We'll talk about it there,"

_"Are you sure?"_

"Positive, see you there?"

_"Yeah.... see you there, just .... swear to me that you know what you're doing?"_

"I swear it Scott, eight ok?"

_"Yeah.... eight, I'll see you dude,"_

"See you,"

Upon hanging up and turning around, Stiles was- thankfully- not surprised to see Derek's anxious face right behind him as the skater leaned against the wall, waiting silently for an update

"How much did you hear?"

"Everything that came after _it wasn't Kate_ ,"

"So then you know most of it," Stiles nodded

"Yeah, I heard, I'm curious to know what this plan of your's is,"

"I'll tell you at home, I don't want to talk about it in public,"

Derek frowned, clearly not appreciative of that as he carefully moved to swing his legs over the wall and sit on top of the ledge

"I don't like this Stiles, atleast give me some vague clue that you actually know what you're doing,"

"Alright, fine," he replied, crossing his arms over his chest and smirking

"History is doomed to repeat it's self,"

 

~+~

 

It was raining again, no thunder yet though, atleast

Thunder would definitely be bad at a time like this...

"Are you ready to go?"

Stiles looked up from where he had been aimlessly staring at the ground, giving Derek a slow nod

They had been working on this plan for a few days now, and Stiles had a feeling that their work would be paying off tonight

He just hoped the plan worked...

"Yeah, almost, you go on home and I'll be right behind you," he promised

Derek nodded tensely, reluctantly throwing his duffle bag over his shoulder and heading out of the rink, making his way to the parkinglot and leaving Stiles alone in the building

Taking a slow, deep breath, the older skater walked over to his boombox, took the CD off of the top, and put it in

He then flipped through the tracks until he found the one he was looking for and grabbed his skates from the bench, sitting down and starting to lace them up

_I love her, can't leave her_  
Forever I'll always need her  
She lie, but I believe her  
Lovesick, I got that fever 

Taking a deep breath, he stood up and stepped easily onto the ice, starting with some basic moves, a few steps, a couple of spins, and that was when he noticed something- or rather _someone_ \- out of the corner of his eyes

"Funny, I always thought your relaxation routine would be to a song that's more... _relaxing_ ,"

Stiles snarled lowly, his eyes dark and angry as he glared at the wall that Theo was currently hopping over, an arrogant smirk on the other wolf's face

_"Theo,"_ he growled, eyes flashing red

"Is that any way to greet an old freind?"

"What the hell are you doing in Beacon Hills? You know you're not supposed to be here,"

"Well, I know that's what _you_ decided a few years ago... but I don't really like that decision, and rumor has it I won't have to abide by it much longer,"

This wasn't good, this wasn't part of the plan, and deviating from the plan could easily cost him his life

Could cost more than one as a matter of fact...

But on the other hand, in some ways, this was a good sign

If Theo was confident enough to trespass and confront him now then he must be confident that the Argents were going to be making their impression on the pack sooner rather than later- and taking out Stiles practically immediately

_Bang_  
Bang  
Shot 'em with a bang  
Love him down, down, shot my baby with a bang 

"Haven't you learned yet Theo? You shouldn't listen to rumors," the Alpha growled back

"Oh I don't know, sometimes they ring quite true," Theo smirked back, hopping down from the wall, skates landing smoothly on the ice as he started gliding over to him

"I have a feeling that this is going to be one of those times,"

Without further warning his eyes bled gold, his fangs and claws starting to grow out from where his fingernails and teeth used to be, face shifting and distorting as he grinned with sickening pride

Stiles knew that there was only one way to end this now

He had to fight back

_Love him down down, I shot my baby with a bang_

He started skating backwards, his own claws and fangs forming from as his eyes sank red, heart pounding in his chest, but not from nervousness

There was a sort of exhilaration in this

This wasn't the first time he had shifted wile skating, but it had been a hell of a long time and getting used to it again was going to be a little bit of a learning curve

Not that Theo seemed keen on waiting though, considering how quickly he was racing towards Stiles, swiping his claws towards the Alpha's face

_Bang, bang, bang_

Gritting his teeth, Stiles ducked under, spreading his legs a little to go lower as he hurried to glide sideways and run his claws across Theo's leg

It didn't have as much of an impact as he thought, too short, too busy focusing on moving, and Theo was able to twist easily to scratch his own claws across Stiles' side

Though, with luck, he was so low to the ice that they were just scrapes at this point, not deep gashes

Still, there was blood on the ice now, from both of them, and that would certainly create a complication

"You know, I always wanted to skate one-on-one with you Stiles, see who could really out-skate the other, no points, no applause, just good ol' fashioned move against move, who would be better?"

"Considering you sorta missed the entire point of figure skating there, I'm gonna venture a guess and say it'll be me,"

_My baby shot me down, down, down_

Theo came at him again, claws aimed at his face, but Stiles managed to catch his hand, forcing him to twist away and biting hard into Theo's shoulder

The beta let out a growl of pain, his legs buckling just as Stiles had hoped they would, but it wasn't quite enough

At this angle Theo had the perfect chance to jam his claws into Stiles' thigh, and once they were there, he scratched down as hard as he could, leaving those gashes Stiles had managed to avoid the first time

Stiles screamed in agony, his teeth dislodging from Theo's shoulder long enough for the other wolf to pull away from him, quickly kicking upwards and letting the blade of his skate cut across Stiles' other leg and effectively nock him off of his feet

His back hit the ice hard, his bones practically rattling from the impact, his head aching like it had hit concrete, and he only just managed to roll out of the way when Theo aimed his claws for Stiles' throat again

With a quick kick of his leg, he swept Theo off of his feet as well and brought him down to the ice- ground level with where Stiles was now

_Bang_  
Bang  
Shot 'em with a bang 

He dug his claws into the ice, panting quietly as he brought his claws down towards Theo's chest, only for the beta to slam his hand into Stiles' head, forcing him backwards

But it atleast gave Stiles the opportunity to somewhat upright himself again, digging his skates into the ice, he pressed one hand down on the ice behind him and used the other to block the oncoming claws of Theo's other hand

He forced himself up again, though unsteady, the force of his skates grinding into the ice gave him atleast some leverage, and even when Theo tried to kick him off his feet again, it didn't do any good

Theo snarled, climbing back up to his feet and glaring with heated rage at the Alpha in front of him

"This isn't the time or place for this Theo," Stiles hissed

He could hear the commotion going on outside, the sound of the door to the building opening and closing

His plan to lure the Argents had worked, unfortunately... it had lured Theo here too

And wile Stiles knew his betas were handling whatever small reinforcements the Argents had brought with them- likely only bringing three, maybe four at most, simply due to not expecting him to have reinforcements of his own there- he wasn't able to tell who had just come in the building

Freind or foe

He was too busy focusing on Theo to try to decipher it

"Oh I know, you wanted to lure the Argents here by making them think you'd be all alone here and a sitting duck, they may be stupid enough to fall for that, but I wasn't,"

"Let me guess, you piggybacked on them long enough to get past my pack and then snuck in, knowing I _would_ be alone in here, and decided it was your perfect chance to corner me, gee, how noble," the Alpha huffed in irritation

"Well, nobility was never my strong suit," Theo smirked back, his fingers twitching, likely with the urge to attack, but he was tampering it for now

Stiles just didn't know why

"Yeah, I kinda figured that out when you tipped off a mutual enemy just to get one over on me,"

"It sounds so skeevy when you put it that way... I prefer to think of it as .. making a freind out of my enemy's enemy,"

"Except that so-called 'freind' has been trying just as hard to kill YOU all this time!" Stiles snapped, stepping out of the grooves he had made on the ice and rushing forward

"Did you know about Lake Placid!? Did you know they were going to kill Jackson!? Is that why you were there, because you were working with them!?" he shouted, vision clouded with rage now

The thought that Theo had been the one to pull the thread that unraveled all of this was infuriating to him

He had no boundaries, no pride, not as a wolf and not as a skater

He had been willing to work with hunters to steal the Stilinskis' Alpha spark, would it be so hard to believe he'd kill a fellow contestant to get them out of the way?

Theo was all about winning, that would certainly apply

"Lake Placid was a happy coincidence, I wouldn't tip off the Argents on _Jackson_ of all people, he's never even TOUCHED my scores," Theo snorted, easily catching Stiles' hands with his own, raising a foot up to slice his skate across Stiles' leg

The pain made him buckle just long enough for Theo to get the upper hand, grabbing him by the throat and spinning to slam him into the wall behind him

So that was why Theo hadn't been moving before, why he had been biding his time, so he could make Stiles upset enough to make the first move and fall right into this freaking trap!

It had been his plan since atleast the time it took for him to stand up and Stiles had fallen for it...

Theo was choking him, his hands squeezing and squeezing, slowly crushing his windpipe, and no matter how hard he scratched at the other wolf's hands and arms, he didn't let go

He was starting to lose consciousness, he had to think of a way out of this, he had to think, he had to-

***BANG!***

The sound of a gun going off made them both freeze, loosened Theo's hold just long enough for Stiles to lunge forward and push away from the wall, punching Theo in the face quickly and forcing him to stumble backwards

He couldn't hesitate, if he hesitated again, it would cost him his life

So he used the opportunity to kick up just enough to slice his skate hard against Theo's shin, distracting him just long enough for the Alpha to swipe his claws against the other wolf's throat and end this useless fight

Theo's hands came up instinctively to grab at the slash marks, but he collapsed down on the ice before he could so much as speak

It made Stiles shake, his hands twitching and his stomach churning

He had never liked killing, but in this life, it was at times necessary...

Slowly, he looked up to see who had fired the gun, and felt overwelming releif flood through him when he caught the face of his savior

"Derek!!"

The human smirked at him, setting the gun on the ledge of the wall and hurrying to hop over it

"Didn't I tell you to go home!?"

The human rolled his eyes, skating towards him with skilled ease and avoiding the blood and grooves in the ice caused by the spat he had interrupted

"You're welcome," he said with a roll of his eyes

Stiles sighed quietly, taking a few steps and holding his arms out for the other skater, exhaling in releif once Derek was in his arms

"Thank you.... but you still shouldn't have done that,"

"Yeah well.... didn't you tell me once before that you should always use your own senses to discern when to listen to your coach and when not to?"

"Um, _no_ , no I never said any such thing," Stiles laughed back, squeezing the human a little tighter

"Hm, must've heard it from someone else then," he teased

"Sure," Stiles snorted back, slowly moving back just enough to give Derek some breathing room, but still holding onto him, not ready to let go yet

"Where'd you get that gun anyway? And where did you shoot?"

"Your dad, he said he had his claws to handle himself and I was the only one who'd need a gun, and I shot at the bench, don't worry about it,"

Stiles rumbled quietly in understanding, nodding slowly

That sounded like his dad alright, always wanting to be a fair fighter

And he had always believed that wolves shouldn't use guns, since guns were responsible for so many of their own deaths

It was a pride thing though, he wanted to prove to hunters that they didn't need to sink to their level to beat them, Stiles knew that

_A little party never killed nobody  
Right here right now's all we've got_

"Are you... listening to the Great Gatsby soundtrack?" Derek asked with an amused snort

Stiles hummed, glancing towards his CD player

He hadn't even noticed the track change...

"What? It's a good soundtrack!"

"It is, just... didn't imagine it being quite your taste for skating music," Derek laughed in return

"Oh yeah? Well maybe I'll use one of these songs when I come back to competition next year,"

Derek's face went through... a series of emotions, excitement, confusion, concern...

"So, does that mean you-"

Stiles watched in confusion as Derek's eyes went wide, a look of panic on his face

But before he could ask what was wrong-

"Stiles get down!"

He didn't have time to react, Derek throwing him to the ice suddenly as the sound of a gunshot rang out throughout the building

Stiles' heart dropped into his stomach, panic starting to rise up in his chest as he watched in what felt like slow motion as Derek fell backwards, hitting the ice hard, blood leaking out of his chest and spilling down onto the ice below him

He hurried to turn around, the look of fear draining from his eyes and sinking instead to blind, furious rage as he laid eyes on the hunter behind them

_"Kate...."_

"Hello Stiles, it's finally just you and me," the blonde smirked sickeningly, smoke still rolling off of the gun as she aimed it towards him

"Why did you shoot him? He was human! He had nothing to do with this!"

"Neither did his family, but I still burned the house down around them," she smirked back

"That's because you're an _idiot_ ,"

"Is it? Or is it just because I wanted to get you out of Beacon Hills?"

Stiles' face went pale, anxiety thundering in his heart

"You.... you knew that Derek wasn't me... you killed his family on purpose....."

"I did, I had hoped you'd follow him to New York out of guilt- work as a bodyguard of sorts... but it took you a wile for that guilt to build up enough for you to leave your pack didn't it? I have to admit, I didn't see that coming, what took so long?"

So that had been her plan all along...

To get him out of Beacon Hills and leave his pack vulnerable and up for the taking....

She knew the only thing that would be stronger than the loyalty to his pack was loyalty out of guilt, and now...

"I think the better question is what took YOU so long? I've been in New York for months, why only strike now? And why draw attention to yourselves by killing Jackson?"

He had to stall

He had to avoid being shot, avoid fighting

Derek was bleeding out fast and his heart beat was starting to slow down, if he didn't get help soon..

"Now Jackson actually WAS mistaken identity, but we had a newbie handling it, our mistake, but it worked out well in the end, as for waiting... Honestly? Your father is still a thorn in our sides, by the time you decided to take your little pet back to New York to finish his training your father was on high alert and started making our lives harder,"

Speaking of his father....

"Good ol' Dad," Stiles smirked back, ducking suddenly as an arm shot out and grabbed Kate by the throat, the gun went off and the sound of a muffled scream echoed in the building

When Stiles looked up a moment later, Kate was bleeding out on the floor, throat slashed, and his father was standing over her with blood on his claws

"Good ol' Dad," he repeated with releif

He had heard the sheriff come in moments before, and seen him silently approach the hunter as she started rambling on

It had been a good diversion, thankfully

"See this son? I told you we don't need guns,"

"Yeah well, Derek happened to save me with one so don't get too proud yet,"

He didn't bother wasting any more time, hurrying to skate over to where Derek was laying unconscious on the ice

"His heart is slowing down and he's lost alot of blood, I don't know if there's time to get him to a hospital,"

"There isn't," the sheriff said quickly, hopping over the wall and running towards the two of them, trying his hardest to avoid slipping between the ice and- worse- the blood _on_ the ice...

"He'll die by the time we get there and by the time Melissa gets there to see him-"

"It'd definitely be too late," Stiles hissed

Scott's mother was the only one of their pack who worked at the hospital- and therefore they wouldn't have to explain the gunshot wound- but it was her night off and she'd have to drive there...

"What the hell do we do Dad? I can't... I can't let him die!"

"We're not going to, I think you know what you have to do,"

The bite....

It wasn't like Stiles had never considered biting Derek before, but the circumstances now...

"But how will that help? The bullet was laced with Wolfsbane, if the bite takes then he'll die of Wolfsbane poisoning,"

"You'll have to burn out the Wolfsbane right after you bite him then, luckily Argent's gun is still here, we can get the Wolfsbane we need, we just need-"

"A lighter," Stiles sighed quietly, his fingers curling into a fist, claws peircing through his palms

Where in the hell would they get a lighter at a skating rink...?

"I know where we can get one,"

_What?_

"What? Seriously!?"

"Yeah, teenagers have been coming around here to smoke in the parkinglot for months, they hide lighters out there, I'll be right back,"

Stiles nodded tightly, deciding not to bother questioning about the lighters and the smoking teenagers, his mind was elsewhere now

He took a shaking breath, gently lifting Derek's hand and rolling his sleeve up

His heart was pounding, his eyes were watering, and he just hoped and prayed that this would work...

"C'mon Derek.... come on... you can get through this I know you can, you can make it..." he breathed, leaning down and giving him a carefull kiss on the lips, looping his fingers around Derek's and squeezing gently

He needed him to pull through... he couldn't lose him, he couldn't...

"You can do this...."

He hoped he was right, he knew that Derek could pull through this if he really wanted to, he was a survivor, always had been and always would be

He just hoped, as he finally sank his teeth into Derek's wrist, that he was right....

 

~+~

 

"Admit it, you were wrong,"

Stiles sighed heavily, shoulders sagging as he leaned over the wall and slowly raised an eyebrow

"You really want to torture me don't you? Alright, _fine_ , you win, you can add another quad to your program, but I still don't think you would have been able to if you hadn't been bitten,"

Derek was practically preening as he came to a stop, smirking up at his coach leaning over the wall himself, eyebrows raised playfully

"Are you admitting that werewolfism is cheating?"

"No, you're still using your natural strength and skill and werewolfism can't teach you how to skate- TRUST me on that, I have experience trying to use it that way,"

"Wich beta are you referring to?"

"It doesn't matter, let's just say.... enhanced physical abilities don't equal the ability to stand upright on ice,"

Derek snorted slightly, leaning back a little more, hands on the ledge of the wall as he stared at his coach

"And these 'enhanced abilities' ... aren't in any way cheating?"

"They might be if you were speed skating, but figure skating isn't about how fast you go, and since you're a soloist and not a pair skater it doesn't matter how strong you are either, not like you're lifting anyone, the only thing that your werewolfism effects is your stamina but you already had alot of that anyway,"

"You JUST said you didn't think I could land four quads if it weren't for being a werewolf," Derek pointed out with raised eyebrows

"Still using your _natural_ abilities, not like I fed you steroids,"

"Uh-huh..." the new beta said with a playfull roll of his eyes, going quiet for a moment before deciding to change the subject

He had been wanting to ask this for a wile but... for obvious reasons, it hadn't been the right time in the last few days

"So.... you said you were coming back to competition next season?" Derek asked slowly

Stiles nodded slowly, reaching out to gently drag his fingers against the new wolf's, keeping his eyes focused on the ledge and not moving up to catch Derek's

"I am, but.... I ... still want to be your coach too, if that's ok,"

"You're going to coach me AND compete?" Derek asked in surprise

"Isn't that a little much?"

Stiles shrugged, smirking slightly

"Even werewolves only have a limited time on the ice, if we stay too long past the typical expectation it'll be dangerous for us as people will start to get suspicious- and by people I mean 'hunters'... so, we have a limited time, why not make the most of it? I'll bridge into permanent coaching sooner or later but I still want to compete wile I can, and besides, when I eventually retire I might not even coach professionally, I might decide to coach kids instead, it'll be easier to stay in Beacon Hills and be a good Alpha that way, have a family, all of that... I can't travel around the world and leave my pack in my dad's hands forever, even if he wasn't ready to quit being Alpha yet when I took over, the responsibility is still mine and they still need a real Alpha, so... I just... I want a few more years you know? Talked to the old man about it, he's up for it for a wile longer,"

"And who will be YOUR coach?" Derek asked with raised eyebrows

"Scott, now that I've seen how good he is with Liam I asked him to help me out too, but I'm still going to plan my own program,"

"Ofcourse you are," Derek snorted playfully

Stiles had been designing his own programs for years, it didn't surprise him at all that he was still going to do that, and plan Derek's too

Stiles was incredibly creative, he had no doubt that he could plan a dozen programs at once if he put his mind to it

"So... is that ok? You know, me coaching you and competing against you at the same time?"

"It's fine with me," Derek shrugged back

"I just have one request,"

"Oh?" the Alpha asked with raised eyebrows

Derek smirked, eyes sparkling mischievously as he reached over and yanked Stiles down closer by his collar

"I want you to be my partner in the exhibition skate, at the Grand Prix next week, I... I want to change my plans and pair skate with you, instead of doing something on my own,"

"You sure you can manage learning something new in such a short time?"

"I can manage, besides, it won't be QUITE new..." he smirked back

Stiles chuckled, reaching out and gently cupping his face

He had a pretty good feeling that he knew exactly what Derek was referring to

"Looks like I'll have to get a new song to relax to huh?"

"I never said that, who said the exhibition skate can't be relaxing?"

He did have a point...

"So we're really doing this huh? You and me... moving back to Beacon Hills, coach, student, colleague... Alpha and beta.... boyfreinds?"

They hadn't talked about it

After Derek woke up he had kissed him senseless

They had been holding hands and kissing on and off and just being... coupley... over the last few days but still hadn't talked about it

Hadn't made anything official...

"We're really doing this," Derek confirmed, cupping Stiles' cheek and bringing him closer, foreheads together, and grinning wolfishly

Stiles closed his eyes on instinct, leaning in closer, lips brushing together

"This is the only time I'll let you take your eyes off of me," Derek breathed, finally sinking their lips together completely

Stiles shuddered, grinning into the kiss and leaning in closer

"Don"t worry," he promised, his arms moving out to loop around Derek's neck

"It's the only time I will,"


End file.
